The Los Angeles Lakers with national team captain Dennis Schröder are in the NBAPlayoffs just one more win from reaching the finals of Western Conference removed. Isiah Hartenstein and the New York Knicks are threatened with the end.
The record champions of the North American Basketball League won 104:101 against the Golden State Warriors in the second half on Tuesday night (May 9th, 2023) despite being twelve points behind. In the Best-of-Sevenseries, the Lakers now lead 3-1 after victories.
A team has to win four times to progress, the next – and possibly decisive – game will take place on Thursday night in San Francisco.
Curry scores, but weakens from the line of three
The best pitcher of the game was Warriors-Star Stephen Curry with 31 points, but an unusually weak three-point haul with only 3 goals in 14 attempts caused his team trouble. Came to the Lakers LeBron James to 27 points, Anthony Davis contributed 23 points.
After a weak third quarter, the hosts, driven by Schröder’s energy, worked their way back in the final quarter and equalized to 84:84. The man from Braunschweig pushed the Warriors into turnovers with good defensive work. Because both teams missed many chances in attack, the game remained tight and exciting until the end.
Hartenstein’s Knicks is threatened with the end
In contrast to Schröder’s Lakers threatens the New York Knicks with national player Isiah Hartenstein out. The team lost Miami Heat 101:109 and was thus 1:3 behind. Here, too, a decision could be made on Thursday night.
Despite the 32 points, New York was able to Jalen Brunson not use his home advantage to equalize in the series. Hartenstein scored two points on the floor in just over 15 minutes. Most successful Heat player was Jimmy Butler with 27 points.
After hitting Suns owners: Fine for Jokic
Nikola Jokic von den Denver Nuggets must after a bump against the owner of the Phoenix Suns pay a fine of 25,000 euros, but he will not be suspended. This was announced by the NBA on Tuesday (05/09/2023).
The incident happened in playoff game four on Monday night (05/08/2023). In the 124:129 defeat of the Nuggets, Jokic had excelled with 53 points, but the Suns still managed to equalize 2:2.
Late in the second quarter he elbowed Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who was watching the game in the crowd, in the chest for Jokic to concede a technical foul.
“The fan touched me first”said Jokic afterwards: “I thought the league wanted to protect us. Maybe I’m wrong. I know who he is – but at the end of the day he’s a fan, isn’t he?”
Ishbia had then tried to de-escalate himself. “Suspending or punishing someone for the incident would not be right”the 43-year-old wrote on Twitter: “I have a lot of respect for Jokic and I don’t want to see anything like that.” Game five takes place in Denver on Wednesday (4:00 a.m. EDT).